Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Top Five Reasons to Hate Capcom

For those who frequent SuperPhillip Central, you know that I loathe hatred in the gaming community. It's a cheap way to get hits, and there's already so much of it that I think people get tired of it and yearn for something more positive. Well, Capcom, one of my former favorite third-parties, has forced my hand with crappy move after crappy move, and I've compiled a list of five reasons to despise Capcom. Maybe you'll agree with some of them, hm?

5) Ultimate Marvel VS. Capcom 3 being unveiled less than a year after the vanilla release

It was but this February of this year that gamers forked over sixty dollars American to play this beyond-hyped-to-Hell-and-back game only to realize their money was worthless. Less than a year later a newer edition would be announced with more fighters, stages, and balance. What was the purpose of paying sixty bucks in the first place-- to play the beta? To play test an incomplete game? As if Marvel VS. Capcom 3 wasn't already enough of a barebones fighter to begin with, and many other fighters in the genre are far more capable. SuperPhillip will not be attending this fight.

Masters of rereleasing games, Capcom is rereleasing Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. The difference this time? HD. That's all. Who cares if you can play a superior version of Resident Evil 4 on the Wii with subjectively better and more fun controls for half the price, own a physical copy of the game, and not be bothered by DRM (more on that later)? Capcom certainly doesn't. Then again this is the company that wants you to repurchase Dead Rising 2: Frank West Version this fall. This is a slap to the face of many-a Resident Evil fan, and I cannot help but imagine that fans will eat this crap up and smile. Way to show Capcom, guys!3) The DRM dilemma

DRM became a standard practice on the PlayStation 3 thanks to Capcom. DRM is a process where the digital game you paid for with your hard-earned money is tied to PSN, so if PSN goes down or gets hacked again (worst-case scenario), you cannot play it. This trend, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong, folks), began with Bionic Commando: Rearmed, and it will continue with the duo of Resident Evil ports. The excuse for this practice is to prevent game-sharing, but all it does is cause headaches.

2) Killing in the name of...

Breath of Fire, how we hardly knew ye... Darkstalkers... you, too, were a good friend. Let's not forget Power Stone, either. I fear we'll have to add Mega Man to the list as well. What do these franchises have in common? I'll be sad to divulge that information. They're properties that Capcom has put down to pasture over the past decade. Why focus on these when you can milk the same four or five franchises, farm out games to Western devs for cheap, and break big at the bank? The legacies of these games continue to be crapped on, and it irritates me that these properties are wasted when they could be greatly expanded upon.

When Mega Man Legends 3 was announced for the Nintendo 3DS, Mega Man fans from all over cheered in unison. Finally poor Mega Man Volnutt would get off that moon! Soon a development website came about asking for fan participation. Fans voted on Mega Man's suit, enemies to be included in the game, the look of the game's new heroine who would be called Aero, and much more. Then suddenly, out of the blue, the project was cancelled and dreams were shattered. All the input from fans was for naught. Capcom didn't even give a reason until a snobby Euro Capcom worker tweeted that it was the fans' fault for not giving enough to the project. Way to soften the blow. So not only is Mega Man Legends 3 dead, but it's not Capcom's fault but the fans. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

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Capcom has done a lot this generation to anger fans. You thought you saw bad temper tantrums when Nintendo of America said "no" to localizing Xenoblade? That's nothing compared to what I saw when Mega Man Legends 3 was cancelled. With their continuing downward spiral, it's really a shame to see Capcom go from Capgod to Crapcom in such a short duration of time. You can bet that this blogger will be purchasing all Capcom games used from now on.